Continual efforts have been made with varying degrees of success to incorporate lignocellulose materials, particularly wood wastes, in building materials such as cements and concretes. In general, a homogeneous mixture is prepared from cement and standard building materials and raw or treated lignocellulose wastes are incorporated therein. These lignocellulose wastes exhibit a variety of physical shapes, depending on the qualities and properties desired in the resulting product.
To accelerate setting the cement, calcium chloride or other equivalent salt may be added in varying proportions. This adjuvant is well known in construction and is almost universally used in concrete production plants. It contributes to obtaining a homogeneous mixture and to bonding the lignocellulose materials and cement together thoroughly to form a compact, solid product.
Even though special care may be taken in making these products, it is generally not, however, possible to avoid the subsequent development of various behavioral deficiencies therein which are linked to the structure of the lignocellulose materials themselves. That is, the deficiencies stem from the fact that lignocellulose materials never completely lose their ability to vary dimensionally, slide, and create fissures.
Viewed alternatively, it is well known to those skilled in the construction art that stability and relative inertness of building materials are essential qualities which are highly sought after and valued. Unfortunately, the products described above along with those disclosed in numerous patents do not meet these building criteria because they do not exhibit the ability to remain constant over long time periods, i.e. they are not stable and inert. To the contrary, these products, even though they may be well known and widely available commercially, generally enjoy only limited use because their initial properties-thermal insulation, mechanical resistance and sound insulation-degrade with time.